Garrick: Public safety bait and switch is cause for concern

Martin Garrick

October 2012 marks the one-year anniversary of the implementation of Gov. Jerry Brown’s public safety “realignment” plan, yet many Californians remain concerned for the safety of their families and have little to celebrate.

In San Diego County alone, one offender released early as part of the realignment plan has been arrested on a murder charge and five others on attempted murder charges. Joseph Todd Hall was arrested in January for allegedly murdering his brother. Even though he was convicted of numerous crimes such as grand theft and possessing a firearm as a felon, Hall was out free because of the Governor’s realignment program.

The others arrested for attempted murder include a man accused of carjacking a family in Escondido, stabbing one victim in the chest. These suspects are among the inmates who have benefited from realignment.

Approved by legislative Democrats and signed by the governor in 2011, realignment has made fundamental changes to our prison system by shifting thousands of inmates from state prison to supervision at the county level.

Originally sold by the governor as a plan that would keep citizens safe because realignment only involves “lower-level” offenders; the facts paint a different picture. What the governor will not say is that there are more than 500 disturbing felony crimes that qualify as “lower-level.” These crimes include hate crimes and felony child abuse.

Joseph Todd Hall qualified as a lower-level offender and was able to get back on the streets. His example is just one of many other criminals catching a break. Some of these criminals and their stories, which can be found at

www.cacrimewatch.org, include a car thief turned murderer, a repeat offender arrested for stabbing and a sex offender observed following children. If they served their full sentences behind bars, they would not have had the opportunity to commit their latest offenses.

I strongly opposed realignment when it came before the Legislature because it was just Sacramento-speak for the early release of dangerous individuals. In all, realignment combined with a court-ordered population prison reduction, will result in 52,000 offenders being shifted from state prison to local jails by 2013-14. Also, it transfers some of the state’s budget problems to local governments and puts the responsibility on counties to decide whether or not to release prisoners early.

In San Diego County, the recent surge in the population at county jails has given local officials no choice but to reduce jail terms for some inmates. One official said about realignment, “I just have this sinking feeling that somewhere down the line somebody is going to be out that shouldn’t be out and do something that they shouldn’t do.” The examples of Hall and many others have confirmed our worst fears.

Adding to the problem is the fact that counties such as San Diego are being shortchanged to cover the costs of incarceration under the 2012-13 budget. For example, San Diego’s funding was cut by $593,000 while San Francisco County’s funding will see a $5.5 million increase.

The irony about realignment is that state and taxpayers are not saving the up to $2 billion annually as the governor promised.

Realignment is a bait and switch making Californians less safe and shifting Sacramento’s inability to reduce spending onto the counties. The governor can wash his hands of the tough public safety choices that counties have to make – but he is the one who made those choices necessary in the first place.